There are some things that transcend trends. Take dinnerware, which is usually collected and passed on to future generations. It elevates any meal -- even pizza -- and carries with it years of nostalgia. And if a quality pattern or design goes out of style, you can trust that's only temporary. Russel Wright's 1937 Bauer Pottery, for example, is being reproduced to keep up with the ongoing interest in early modern and midcentury modern American design.

If the Bauer designs are "mid-century," how will this decade be remembered in china? Today's dinnerware has so much variety: gold and platinum edging, colorful patterns, squares and octagon shapes, vintage-reproduction designs. Even high art is coming to dinner, as with a release from Bernardaud celebrating sketches by painter Marc Chagall that inspired 12 stained-glass windows in a Jerusalem medical center.

We've talked and emailed with interior designers, buyers and store owners to find out about the china patterns that speak to them right now -- and will still be talking later.

Your own style

"The bottom line is to go with what you like," says designer Kelley Proxmire, who has collected china since 1979, because true style is transcendent.

"People are definitely looking for color," writes Michelle Westcott-Richards, spokeswoman for Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton. "For so long, it was just white and platinum." For something that's colorful and feels a bit vintage, she points to Anthropologie's Old Havana Dinnerware stoneware in mint ($18, www.anthropologie.com).

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In April, china companies released their newest patterns at the New York Tabletop Market. Emily Hull-Martin, Bloomingdale's fashion director, says that "some of the top-trending patterns for spring and summer include blue/white combinations, florals and stripes." For a preppy, painterly take on blue and white, try the Charlotte Street Dinner Plate ($22, www.katespade.com).

Fashion and home designers have long tried their hands at china patterns. Vera Wang's Gilded Weave place setting is a new release from Wedgwood (dinner plate $35, na.wwrd.com). This pattern is a neutral -- good for pairing with other patterns, even heirloom ones. "Our customers love to mix vintage and new pieces to create a truly unique table," writes Sarah Kauffman, director of merchandising for online store One Kings Lane, in an email.

Layering pieces

For spring, Oscar de la Renta has released its stoneware Pavilion Dinner Plate in the color Lettuce, in addition to ivory and indigo ($38, www.oscardelarenta.com). "Layering is a great way to put a fresh spin on traditional pieces and tailor the table to suit the occasion," Kauffman writes. Pair a salad bowl with this octagonal plate for some serious shape interest.

Jasper Conran, son of famed British designer Terence Conran, has designed a number of china patterns for Wedgwood over the years, but the shapes and sizes generally stay the same. This means one can layer or alternate his newer Gold-Banded Plate with a chinoiserie-inspired, white or striped plate for a particularly boho look. ($42, na.wwrd.com).

Proxmire has used many china collections over the years, but one that endures for her is the classic blue-and-white combination. "I snap up blue-and-white pieces from wherever I travel," she says, "all (from) different countries -- France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Holland, Prague." For special everyday plates that recall the architecture and color of Greece, try the Perlée Dinner Plate in blue (also available in white, gold, and platinum) porcelain ($64, www.l-objet.com).

Kelly Wearstler's Mulholland dinner plate design for the American company Pickard China was inspired by her Channels wallpaper ($126, www.kellywearstler.com). "The triangles in the pattern are floating out in space," Englert says. "It's just really interesting and fun, sophisticated fun."

Mix and match

If you fear that dinnerware so bold will soon look dated, Proxmire advises, "You can get something really colorful and then lay it down later with something really neutral. If you like the orange plates now but don't like them 10 years from now, lay them down with something neutral."

"I love the Hermès plates," Proxmire says of the Bleus d'Ailleurs pattern. "I bought it in blue and white for myself for cocktail hour," she says (dinner plate $155, usa.hermes.com). Proxmire predicts this pattern is a "collector's item of the future."

If you can't decide on just one pattern, then mix and match. "It's OK to mix one plate from one manufacturer and put it with a dinner plate from another manufacturer," says Tony Englert, co-owner of Patrick's Fine Linens and Home Decor in Alexandria, Va., who has 13 china patterns at home. "That's the French way, anyway." The formal Aegean Dinner Plate in porcelain and platinum would go especially well with patterns that have gold in them, for a contemporary mixed-metal look ($240, www.l-objet.com).

"Incorporating art is a cutting-edge way to add patterns to your table setting," writes Hull-Martin in an email. French porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud interprets designs Russian artist Marc Chagall sketched in 1959 for stained-glass windows in Jerusalem's Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, representing the 12 tribes of Israel ($570 for a set of six porcelain dinner plates, www.bloomingdales.com).